Various hearing aids and earpiece devices are known in the art. Many take the form of a Behind-the-Ear (BTE), In-The-Ear (ITE), In-the-Canal (ITC), Completely-In-The Canal (CIC), or Receiver-in-the-Ear (RIE) component. In a typical hearing aid, the hearing aid is constructed with a four-piece structure, e.g. internal components for the receiver, receiver housing, surrounding structure, and an ear mold or compliant ear dome/tip. The receiver comprises a housing that is made of metal or a non-biocompatible material. Some wearers may be allergic to metal housing, and the wearer may experience discomfort when the receiver housing is directly in the ear canal.
The tissues covering the bony region of the ear are relatively thin and, therefore, little or no tolerance for expansion exists in this region as compared to the tissues covering the cartilaginous region. Inserting the metal receiver deeply into the ear canal so that it touches the bony region not only damages the tissues in the bony region, but the wearer will experience great pain.
The ear mold or compliant ear dome/tip is attached to the surrounding structure and then inserted into the ear canal for comfort wear. The ear mold and the surrounding structure must be carefully removed in order to reach the receiver, and once the receiver has been repaired or replaced, the receiver is inserted back into the ear mold and the surrounding structure.
The surrounding structure has been used to accomplish several tasks: protect the user from non-biocompatible receiver housing, provide ease of assembling the ear fit device, and protect the electrical and mechanical portions of the device from ear wax, perspiration, and various environmental contaminants.
A disadvantage in using the four-piece structure, e.g. internal components for the receiver, receiver housing, surrounding structure, and ear mold, for the earphone or the hearing aid is that it is very bulky by nature. Also, it is very difficult to design and control the design parameters of the surrounding structure to suit different receiver and hearing aid configurations. It is not suited for low cost mass production. In addition, in some cases, the structure needs to be taken apart in order to repair and or replace the receiver.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that all elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence which those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.